Dr. Rick Strassman is widely known for his pioneering study on the effects of DMT on human volunteers, chronicled in his book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, that played a key role in jump starting psychedelic drug research after a 20 year hiatus. In addition to later co-authoring Inner Paths to Outer Space in 2008, he has finished a new book, DMT and the Soul of Prophecy, and released this sneak peak of the first chapter.

The DMT-Nexus plans to interview Dr. Strassman for a future issue of the e-zine. But, in the meantime, take a gander at what his upcoming book DMT and the Soul of Prophecy holds in store

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Rick Strassman’s previous books/studies (The Spirit Molecule, Inner Paths to Outer Space) have been very intriguing as to the implications of the DMT experience in regards to some other allegedly paranormal and/or extraterrestrial experiences, as well as Graham Hancock’s related book Supernatural. The theories proposed therein could describe a much more comprehensive or unified theory of consciousness, spirituality, individual revelation, certain “non-repeatable” phenomenon from astral travel to alien abductions to angel encounters.

This, however, reminds me of Immanuel Velikovsky’s attempt to interpret a bunch of self-aggrandizing tribal pseudo-history as a scientific/journalistic document, rather than the fantastic, whimsical and violent misogynist mythology that it is.

Why not look into whether Innanna literally went to the Underworld, or whether Ishtar’s husband literally came back from the dead every year? Why not search for evidence that Valhalla is an actual geographic location? I don’t mean this as hyperbole, rather I refer to some of the mythologies that the relatively insignificant Hebrew tribes appropriated from those dominant Egyptian, Sumerian, and/or Babylonian cultures which they were presumably trying to impress the most at the time.

Literary scholarship in tandem with historical and archaeological scholarship might be a better approach for studying archaic religious mumbo-jumbo if one wants to get to the root of these folktales.

God bless Strassman, all the same, for the valuable research he has already accomplished. Meanwhile, DMT remains a Schedule One Controlled Substance in the US, apparently because our government is so very, very concerned, really, truly, about our individual mental and physical health, but accidentally swapped the lists of dangerous substances to be prohibited (cannabis, tryptamines) and to be distributed to the general public (opiates, amphetamines, distilled spirits, nicotine).

Yūgen

While I’m very grateful to Strassman for his work and loved his first two books, I have to question some of his thinking in the first chapter of this recent one. I don’t understand his quick dismissal of the idea that psychoactive plants might have had a role in some of the experiences of this group of ancients, and/or played a role in initiating mental or neurochemical processes that led to the release of endogenous psychedelic tryptamines and beta carbolines.

I’m also puzzled at how he attempts to integrate “God” into his new theory (although he never makes it clear what he means by “God”), briefly explained here:

“I call it a “theoneurological” model, and suggest that the mechanisms existing in the brain are how God communicates with us. The brain is not generating those experiences for various evolutionary purposes; rather, God has designed and uses the brain as the agent for communicating with us.”

I do look forward to reading the book however. Even with things disagree with in some ways, there is often gems of insight to be gained as well. I’ve had a lot of psychedelic and what seems like endogenous psychedelic experiences, as have many that I’ve spoken with, and it’s always fun to see how ancient “myths” often resonate with them in interesting ways.

trompe l’oiel

Shredding the veil one book at a time. DreaMTime is an omnijective inducing experience of memetic archetypal power. Not that I know from…. personal experiences or anything…. I was never patted on the head by Ygdrasil and shown the amalgamation of sephiroth generating the sacred geometry platonic framework of all life through the grace of surrender and utter awe…. never have I been dissolved into my atomic constituencies and interacted with principle personalities of cultural cosmologies that I didn’t even believe in…. never in all my days, have I ever experienced anything like the latter whatsoever… nope, not at all. Though I would be curious undoubtedly.